Bat TF Story Chptr 3

Putting the phone up to my ear, I waited for it to start ringing, but once it did I winced and held it away. The sound was a lot louder than I had remembered. I listened until I knew that Chris wasn't about to answer the call. This frustrated me to no end. It meant that either he was in the same situation I was and hadn't yet recovered, or that he was just sound asleep and that this was my problem. I gritted my teeth let myself fall backwards onto the bed. I laid there motionless for a little while, staring up at the ceiling. It was dark out, what time was it? I felt pretty tired, my eyelids were getting heavier. But no!, I couldn't fall asleep, I had to get up and do something! I couldn't waste time... sleeping... I tried to work up the resolve to get back up and pace the room, but my will fell apart and I nodded off.

I woke to the sound of birds chirping and the sight of sunlight flooding in from my window. It was so bright. I drowsily sat up in bed and I noticed right away that something was off. What had happened last night... My eyes shot open and I leapt to my feet looking around the room and then down at myself. I was human again! I sighed with relief and pinched myself to be sure that I wasn't dreaming. Looking around the room, I spotted my cell on the bed where I'd dropped it. I scooped it up and took a look at the clock. It was almost eleven. I never slept for that long, I was an early riser. Slightly suprised at myself, I took a step towards the dresser to get a fresh set of clothes, but my legs stiffened in protest. I hadn't noticed the rust that had creeped into my limbs until now. Groaning, I stretched back and forth and tried to shake it off. Once I could move again, I quickly changed and headed down the stairs to the kitchen to get some breakfast. I grabbed the box of cherios out of the pantry and poured a bowl. Sitting down at the table, I started automatically chewing and swallowing. I was occupied with the task of trying to make sense of last night. Had that really happened? Every bit of sense in me said no, but my memory clearly said yes. The two most influencal forces in my mind conflicting wasn't very comfortable. I suppose at that moment, I made an agreement with myself somewhere in the back of my head that it had never happened, and that I would just go through a normal day. Drinking the last of the milk, I stuck my bowl in the sink and went
to crack a book to kill some time.

It was around seven when I left the house. I was going to the trail at the edge of town that went up the mountain for a little walk. I savored the crisp air as I made my way down the sidewalk. It was getting darker. A subtle blue covered the town, complementing the grey concrete quite nicely. I reached the base of the path and started climbing. My goal was to reach a rocky little cliff that stood a good distance away from the worn route. I had been there several times before, it had a good full view of the valley. I turned right, astray from the trail and started plodding along through the woods. Before long, familiar landmarks came into view and I was walking on flattened plants. I pushed back a thick bush and my retreat burst into view. As far as I knew, nobody else knew about this place. It was open, quiet, and invisible from most viewpoints. I had it all to myself. Sighing lightheartidly, I took a seat on the ground with my back to a boulder to watch the spectacle unfold. The sun was now sinking lazily under the horizon, and just for about twenty seconds, the most amazing sight emerged. In the sun's last will, it was throwing an umatched variety of molten reds and golds across the landscape, and a striking violet pink in the sky. Every speck of dust in the air was highlighted yellow, and long shadows were hurled across the vegatation. A perfect sunset. Almost immediately afterwards, it was dark. A sad smile played upon my lips. In modern society, everyone was so busy keeping scheduels, working in the office, and dying from heart attacks that nobody noticed the simple pleasures that life could offer. And what about in a couple hundered years? Would all of this be torn down in favor of a parking lot? I shuddered at the thought. Standing up, I brushed the dirt off of my legs and walked back towards the path home. But then I started feeling strange. It began with an unmistakable warm tingle in the pitt of my my stomach, that quickly developed into an odd variety of nausea. I knew that feeling, and I knew what I was in for. I settled myself down on a patch of grass to brace myself. Not again! The first time was bad enough! But I really didn't have any choice in the matter. I felt the change disperse and go to work throughout my body. Stabbing and pulling sensations appeared, but to my relief, they were within a tolerable range. It still hurt, a lot, but it didn't come close to the intense throbbing that had assaulted my nerves the first time. My wings and tail made a grand entry while my face pushed foreward. The hot sensation dulled and faded, and once again I was gasping for breath.

When I recovered, I stood up tried to claim dominance over my foriegn vessel. What a queer feeling, being a stranger in your own body. I clutched my head in a fit of mental pain, nearly falling over but widening my stance at the last second. I remained in that awkward position for a small while, not wanting to move and feel my unfamiliar shape, but then something drew me out of my dithering. An owl hooted in the distance, and the sound reverberated off of the trunks of the trees,and even though my eyes were closed, I could see the forest around me. I lowered my hands and looked up curiously in the direction from which the note had arrived from. The bird turned to meet my  stare and let out another "Hoo!". I gasped, and a chill ran down my spine as it bounced wildly about the terrain. I straightened into a more comfortable position and
loosened up. I had leveled off, I didn't want to scream anymore, and now I was genuinly fascinated with the implications of my new form. And unlike the first time that this had happened, I didn't have to worry about scaring anybody else. When I listened closely I could make out a stream gurgling merrily somewhere far behind me.  Suddenly a chorus of crickets chimed into the song and the wind rushed through the thick treetops. I took a deep breath and the intense smell of pine and decaying plantlife seeped into my snout. I was almost overwhelmed, feeling so much of my surroundings all at once, but it felt so intoxicating. And then, as if out of nowhere, a thought occured to me. Why would you have wings if you weren't going to fly?...fly...could I really? I hefted up my arms/wings for examination. Well, why not? I was sure that millions of people around the world harbored dreams of flying. If I had the opportunity to tread air, it would be a near crime not to. The edge of the cliff looked like a good place to start. I couldn't believe the audacity of the stunt that I was proposing to attempt. My last thought made me sound like I was brainstorming ways to kill myself, but regardless, I walked over to ledge and peered down. It was a dizzying height. Enough to make me shuffle away from potential fall. Well was I going to jump or not? It was the reason I had come over here, what was I waiting for?... But if I fell... I was hopelessly conflicted. The chance to fly was too great to pass up, but the risk was too prominent to ignore.The side of me that wanted to jump was apparently more aggressive, because before too long, I took one last breath and gave myself a good hard shove off the edge. And then I was falling.

I guess that I'd made a mistake not diving headfirst, because when I spread out my wings I didn't move, I just started parachuting down. It slowed me considerably, but I could feel that I was still going too fast. I tried flapping, but
once again, I failed to stop plummeting. I looked down and almost panicked. The hard, unforgiving ground was rushing up to me and I still hadn't accomplished flight. Was I going to die? The notion of death awakened a deep, primal part of me and I found myself going into a nosedive. As soon as I was going fast enough I pulled up and flapped frantically to try to get precious altitude. Through all of this I was actually starting to rise, but there was a tree out in front of me. Would it be
enough? I closed my eyes and waited. It felt like an eternity, but I finally felt myself clear the hazard, with nothing but a light scrape from the treetop. I opened my eyes and took a look around. Unlike a moment ago, the ground was below me,
and the sky was above. I was flying! I could feel my upward momentum flagging, so I flapped a little and got level with the horizon. I'd done it! I was airborne! Weightless! Free! With nothing but the big blue air around me and the wind rushing past my ears. I did a couple of lazy loops and savored the adrenaline that they contributed. Flying was worth the fall. It brought a joy that I could never have understood being earthbound. I turned and twisted for a little while longer, but then something caught my eye. When I squinted I could make out the dark silhouette of another airborne object. It was bigger than a bird... a plane perhaps? No it was too small to hold even one passenger. What was it then? It dipped down, below the rise of a hill. I worked up some speed and set a heading for the area that I'd seen it. When I got closer I caught another fleeting glimpse but it once again dissapeared from view. What the heck was it? I veered a sharp left in pursuit and realized that it was avoiding me. But, regardless I was gaining on it, and when I finally managed to close to a distance to where I could see it, it touched down into the woods. I followed the example. We both landed in a small clearing. I felt pretty burnt out from the chase, and we were both huffing and puffing. I looked up and saw him with his back turned to me. He looked just like I did, except instead of jet black, he was more of a rusty red. He turned to look back at me and even though he looked different I saw something familliar in his face. Chris.